Gainsborough Studios

Shoreditch Park, Hackney, is a London park near the Regent's Canal, which hereabouts is the boundary between the boroughs of Islington and Hackney. I imagine that many people using the park wonder why the word "Gainsborough" is spread along the top of a block of flats, and what the rusted metal sculptures in the park signify. The fact is that the block of flats incorporated parts of what was once Gainsborough Studios, a British film studio that produced movies from 1924 to 1951. The studio buildings were not purpose-built: prior to their use for films they were a power station for the Great Northern & City Railway. Alfred Hitchcock did his first work in movies at Gainsborough Studios. That large circular sculpture is, I imagine, based on a film reel.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Underneath the arches

Railway viaducts are constructions of great interest and attraction built to takes a line over a lower area, and consequently they begin and end at points of approximately equal height. The city of Worcester has such a viaduct that starts at Foregate Street Station and extends to the bridge over the River Severn. It was completed in 1859, is built of bricks and has no less than 65 arches (each numbered). In many cities railway arches were utilised as cheap workshop areas, and many are still used this way. Recently some of the Worcester arches have been developed as studios for creatives, and these in the photograph are awaiting their first tenants.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2